Arkansas Man Who Awoke From A Nearly 2 Decade Coma Dies At 57

Terry Wayne Wallis, the Arkansas man who spent 19 years in a coma before recovering consciousness and starting to speak again in 2003, has passed away. He was 57 years old at the time of his passing.

On July 13, 1984, Wallis’ pickup truck collided with a railing fence on a small bridge near Stone County, Arkansas. The twenty-year-old was driving it with two passengers. The truck then skidded off the cliff and into the river below. The truck was discovered upside down in a dry riverbed 25 feet (7.6 meters) below ground level.

One of the two passengers died as a result of the collision. Wallis was discovered unresponsive but breathing, with significant injuries to his face and chest. Wallis was taken into the hospital but remained in a state of coma ever since the death of his close friend. He was paralyzed from the waist down after the accident.

He was minimally conscious for more than a year after the accident, but physicians thought his condition was permanent. He remained comatose and quadriplegic for the rest of his life, and he was eventually transferred to a Mountain View nursing home.

Wallis had been in a coma for 19 years until June 12, 2003. The moment he opened his eyes, he said, “Mom.”

As reported by the Associated Press, Alesha Badgley, the social director of Wallis’s rehab center, said, “He began out with ‘Mom’ and astonished her, and then it was ‘Pepsi,’ and then it was ‘milk.’ And now it’s up to him to say anything he wants.”

Nicholas Schiff of Weill Cornell Medical College used modern technology to scan Wallis’ brain. The imaging tests suggest Wallis’ brain rejoined intact neurons and established new connections to bypass the damaged parts.

Wallis was known as “The Man Who Slept for 19 Years” due to the media and medical attention that surrounded him. Sandi Wallis, his wife, said, “We all, the whole family, missed out on his company.”

Angilee Wallis, Terry’s mom, said: “I couldn’t tell you my first thought; I just fell over on the floor.”

Doctors had recommended that his family bring him home on alternating weekends for several years since they believed it would improve his awakening phase. When he recovered consciousness, he was still under the impression that it was 1984. As far as Wallis was concerned, the world had paused with the accident. He believed that Ronald Reagan was still president and wanted a phone call to his grandmother, who had passed away several years before he was born. He even remembered her phone number and recited it to her.

Terry Wayne Wallis died on March 29 in Big Flat, Arkansas.

Following the announcement of Wallis’ death, he was recalled for his sense of humor. The obituary added: “Terry was a great teaser and loved to tease his sister. His wonderful sense of humor will be greatly missed by his family.” In his obituary, it was stated that he enjoyed listening to live music performed by his brother Perry Wallis. The obituary added that Wallis enjoyed eating “anything at any time and loved drinking Pepsi.”

In addition to his daughter and a number of grandkids, Wallis is survived by his father and three siblings who live in Big Flat, Arkansas. His mother, Angilee Wallis, passed away in 2018.